Putin and Trump’s Secret Talk! Paris Meeting in the News, But Only Because of Russia and America

We're starting with details on the talks in Paris — the INF Treaty, the situation in Syria, and trade relations.

We're starting with details on the talks in Paris — the INF Treaty, the situation in Syria, and trade relations. These topics and others were discussed by the heads of Russia, Germany, France, and the US the day before. I remind you they gathered in Paris on the occasion of the centenary of the end of the First World War.

Our special correspondent Stas Natanzon on the details.

 

It's the relationship between Russia and the United States, or to be precise, the communication between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump that was the main intrigue of the ceremony that took place here in France. It grabbed the headlines of French newspapers, for instance, here's the front page of Le Figaro where we can see Macron speaking against the background of the empty Champs-Élysées, and the headlines of many international newspapers. For example, the Financial Times published a photo of the joyful Donald Trump looking at Vladimir Putin approaching.

The way Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump would communicate, or whether they'd be able to talk, was followed by every journalist here. It is known that a full-fledged bilateral meeting was initially prepared, but Emmanuel Macron asked for it not to be held, so as not to overshadow the event France organized. As a result, they had to talk on their feet during a working lunch at the Elysee Palace. Judging by the photos from this lunch, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump sat opposite of one another. Later, Vladimir Putin said there were no negotiations and no communication on substantive issues, so as to not violate the request of Emmanuel Macron. Earlier, we saw Vladimir Putin shake hands with Donald Trump at the ceremony near the Arc de Triomphe and he even gave the American president a thumbs-up as if saying "all is well". Let's see what Vladimir Putin said about his talk with Donald Trump right after the ceremony.

Vladimir Putin: “We just said hello to each other. The ceremony was organized in a way that made it impossible to talk. We were watching what was going on. Now there will be working lunch. Maybe there we'll talk. Anyway, we arranged we wouldn't break the schedule of the host party. On their request, we won't hold any meetings here. Probably, it'll happen on the sidelines of the G20 or even later. In any case, we're ready for dialogue. It isn't us who are withdrawing from the INF Treaty. It's the Americans who plan to do that. Both of us are willing to restore dialogue. Maybe, it's not a dialogue at this high of a level that is important. I hope the negotiating process at the level of experts will be restored".

Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump were to separately honor the memory of the soldiers of their countries who died on the fronts of the First World War. Donald Trump was supposed to go to the American Cemetery in Paris, but he initially canceled his trip there saying the weather was bad and the security measures were tight. But Vladimir Putin went to the monument of the Russian Expeditionary Corps. There were tens of thousands of soldiers and officers who defended France and Paris from the Germans. Almost a third of them died. Seeing that the weather did not stop Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump went to the cemetery of the American soldiers who died in the First World War.

Later, we heard from the press secretary of the Russian president that full-fledged bilateral talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will take place at the G20 summit in Argentina at the end of the month. Let's listen what Dmitry Peskov said.

Dmitry Peskov: "Now we're focused on the fact that the meeting will take place. This is the first. Secondly, at the same time, there's not even a rough estimate. Besides, we know that circumstances are changing constantly for both us and our American colleagues. So, for now, there aren't any specific arrangements. We can't say for sure. For example, we found some information in Argentine sources that Trump is going to reduce his stay in Argentina to a single day. So now we don't actually understand how this correlates with such events".

After the end of yesterday’s solemn event, which was attended by almost 70 world leaders, as well as heads of governments and major international organizations, the Paris Peace Forum will continue to work here in Paris. This is a platform for a civil dialogue dedicated to the efforts made to prevent such wars.

Stas Natanzon, Vadim Trusov, Ivan Zamorin. Vesti from France.